Have you ever wanted to clear the slate of info that Instagram has on your interests and start afresh?
Soon, you’ll be able to do just that, with IG testing a new option that will essentially clear its memory of what it knows about you, in order to re-shape your recommendations in-stream.
Well, sort of.
As you can see in the above screens, Instagram will still keep your activity and interest info for ad targeting. But in terms of the content that it recommends to you, which is an increasing amount of what you see in the app, this will give you the option to reset and start over.
As explained by Instagram:
“In just a few taps, you’ll be able to clear your recommended content across Explore, Reels and Feed and start fresh. Your recommendations will start to personalize again over time, showing new content based on the content and accounts you interact with. When resetting, you’ll also have the option to review the accounts you’re following and unfollow any that share content you no longer want to see.”
You can see that last element in the third image above, with a prompt added into the process to help users disconnect from people and topics that they’re no longer interested in, including “Ad Topics”.
Which could be a good way to update and refresh your IG experience, especially if you’re no longer interested in a topic, or you feel like Instagram’s algorithm is a little too sensitive to certain elements. For example, sometimes you might go to a celebrity’s profile to see their latest post, which has sparked some sort of controversy. IG might then think you’re interested in that person, and soon, your Explore feed is loaded with daily updates on everything that they’re doing.
But you don’t really care, and in that instance, maybe you might want to blow it up and start again. Though that would also eliminate all of your other preferences.
Also, it can’t be reversed. So you better be sure.
Instagram says that the main focus for this update is teen users, and ensuring that teens “have safe, positive, age-appropriate experiences.” Which is interesting in the context of the broader political and regulatory discussions around social media age limits, with the Australian Government pushing ahead with its plan to ban people under the age of 16 from using social apps.
Maybe, this is another element in IG’s effort to show that it is working to protect teens, in order to avoid potential restrictions on who can use it.
On that front, Instagram has also published a new explainer page within its Transparency Center which outlines how its recommendations work, and its built-in protections for teens.
That might also give you more context as to what will be impacted by this new reset option, while also, again, assuring parents (and regulators) as to the various protections that Instagram has for young users.
Though really, I imagine that a heap of people, not just teens, will benefit from this reset option. I suspect that many will also regret resetting their feed too, but using the app, and engaging with relevant posts, will quickly re-build your graph.
It’ll be interesting to see how this impacts the IG experience, and what initial testers think.
Instagram says that its “Reset Suggested Content” option “will soon roll out globally.”
